My best friend got me this little fella for my birthday last year....and hes slowly changed color on me! I didn't think bettas did that If I didn't know better I'd swear he was a different fish....weird

When I first got him:



Now:



And his 5 gallon house:

he is very pretty either way

I had a betta that did that I always figured it was because I took him outta that tiny cup and into a 10g and he got his color back it makes you wonder if they just put all their energy into surviving with small amounts of air instead of using it for there coloring and such.

aww the color is beautiful! I like it

Yes, I was thinking the same thing, since it's not like he turned from red to green, more like being colorless to having color again. Like Dan said, either way he's pretty And a nice roomy home he's got too.

Wow, what a change! Beautiful colors, though! One of my bettas has changed colors over the months, but it's been a very subtle change. But yeah, I guess they do change colors sometimes.

Thats one patriotic betta!

From his first photo you can see he has a bit of marble genes. Marbles continue to change throughout their whole lives. Its such an unstable gene but fun to work with when breeding. I loved watching my babies mature and change colors up until they were taken to the pet store to be sold.

Thats very interesting...how can you tell? My friend got him from a place that raises their own bettas for sale and they take very good care of their fish...so I don't think lack of care was a problem with this guy. None of the other fish they had were white like Trajan was...so I can imagine how the marble gene thingie might come into play. Either way hes a beautiful boy and has a great personality. My friend that got him for me is proud that he did a good job lol

I used to do a lot of betta breeding and working with marbles was my favorite thing. Yours actually looks like a cross between a cambodian and a red+white+blue betta.

Here is a marble HMPK I once owned, named Prince Moo Moo. He was 5 months when I purchased him.
The first photo was taken by the original breeder.The second was taken by the transhipper.Third one was by me.